The Guardian - UK (2022-05-02)

Monday 2 May 2022 The Guardian •••

National^17

Shaping up

Hourglass

fi gures are

on trend

as fashion

leans into

the curve

Fleur Britten

W

hen an

athleisure

jacket racks up

2.8bn views on

a social media

platform with

reviewers praising its ability to

create an hourglass silhouette, you

know that this is a body shape that

is – dare we say it – trending.

Lululemon’s Defi ne jacket has

been dubbed the Brazilian Butt Lift

(BBL) top for its instant sculpting

eff ect, thanks to a bit of Lycra and

clever tailoring. Countless young

women have shared videos on

TikTok of themselves zipping and

unzipping the snug-fi tting top.

“BBL for the win,” said one.

The hourglass is currently the

biggest shape in fashion. “We’re

seeing an industry-wide obsession

with hyper-femininity,” says Katie

Devlin , fashion researcher at the

trends intelligence agency Stylus.

“There’s been a change in the types

of bodies that we see represented in

fashion, [marking] a defi nite shift

towards embracing curvier, more

womanly fi gures.”

Last week, Victoria Beckham

launched VB Body , a capsule

collection of body-contouring

dresses, bralettes and leggings,

which, she says, “ cinch you in at all

the right places, and give you a nice

round bottom or a defi ned waist ”.

Like it or not, Kim Kardashian

was here fi rst. “She’s been pushing

this hourglass thing for years,”

says the author and Central Saint

Martins fashion lecturer Harriet

Worsley. “Fashion is fi nally

catching up with her.”

Having launched her own

shapewear line, Skims, in 2020,

Kardashian introduced size-

inclusive garments, such as a waist

trainer, and cycling shorts that

fl atten tummies and “enhance the

natural shape of your butt”.

With many of us coming out of

lockdown with quite a bit more

body to sculpt than before we went

in, it’s perhaps not surprising that

Selfridges, which stocks Skims,

reports a “huge spike” in its sales ,

“and it doesn’t seem to be slowing

down,” says Grace Neal , the store’s

womenswear buyer. “We’ve seen

an increase of 118% of Skims sales

versus the previous year.” However,

she adds, customers are looking

for something a little diff erent.

“They aren’t necessarily looking

for shapewear to make them look

thinner,” she says, “but to enhance

the body they already have .”

“Historically, shapewear has

always been incredibly restrictive ,”

says Devlin. “The main point of it

in the past has been to make the

wearer as small and as skinny as

possible. While restriction still

Netfl ix drops

Meghan’s

animated show

amid cutbacks

Richard Luscombe

The Duchess of Sussex has fallen

victim to cutbacks at Netfl ix, accord-

ing to a report in the US that said

the struggling streaming giant has

dropped plans for her animated series

Pearl.

Announced to fanfare last sum-

mer , with Meghan as its creator

and executive producer, the “fam-

ily series” was to have focused on

the adventures of a 12-year-old girl

inspired by historically infl uential

female fi gures.

It was to have been the fi rst ani-

mated production under Meghan and

her husband Prince Harry’s Archewell

brand , which was created in 2020 as

a vehicle for their new careers in the

US, following their separation from

the British royal family.

Netfl ix, once the dominant stream-

ing platform but now wrestling with

slumping subscriber numbers and

a collapse in share value, dropped

the project amid a wave of cutbacks,

according to Deadline.

Referring to the decision unfl at-

teringly as “a royal flush”, the

entertainment industry website said

the project Meghan was co-executive

producing with David Furnish, who

is married to Elton John, was axed in

the development stage.

“Word in town is that even before

recent events, Netfl ix had been telling

producers to take some development

projects elsewhere,” the report said.

Netflix did not immediately

respond to a request for comments.

There was also no immediate reaction

from Archewell, leaving it unclear if

the company would continue pro-

duction on Pearl or attempt to move

it elsewhere.

Other Archewell projects with

Netfl ix, including the documentary

series Heart of Invictus, about Har-

ry’s Olympics-style Invictus Games

for disabled former service mem-

bers, are believed to be unaff ected.

The former working royals, who live

in Montecito, California, signed a

multiyear deal with Netfl ix in Sep-

tember last year.

Sandra Laville

Untreated sewage was discharged

into England’s coastal bathing waters

for more than 160,000 hours last year,

according to fi gures collated by the

Liberal Democrats to mark the start of

the summer sea -swimming season.

Data compiled by the party using

Environment Agency fi gures from

2021 shows that water companies

released raw sewage 25,000 times

into designated bathing waters off

the English coast.

Figures for England and Wales col-

lated by the campaign group Top of

the Poops reveal that water compa-

nies released untreated sewage for

217,804 hours into bathing areas.

The bathing water designations –

created by the EU – are supposed to

highlight the country’s cleanest and

safest waters for the public. The qual-

ity of the water is publicly identifi ed

on signs at the beaches, ranging from

excellent to poor.

The longest discharges into bath-

ing waters were carried out by United

Utilities , wh ich released untreated

sewage into sea -swimming spots in

its area for almost 75,000 hours. The

company’s worst -hit site was More-

cambe South beach.

Southern Water, which was last

year fi ned a record £90m for spilling

billions of litres of raw sewage into

Hampshire and Kent coastal waters,

was responsible for 20,367 hours of

untreated sewage discharges into

designated bathing spots off the coast

in its area.

South West Water discharged

sewage into bathing spots for 43,

hours , with the longest discharge

released at Wildersmouth Beach

near Ilfracombe in Devon, lasting

1,833 hours.

The fi gures were revealed as the

offi cial sea -swimming season opened

yesterday. This marks the start of

annual monitoring of bathing -water

quality , which helps to inform the

public at beaches they visit. The sea-

son lasts until September.

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem s’ rural

n

bbod

in, i

Self

repo

“an

dow

wom

an i

vers

she

for s

“Th

for s

thin

the

“

alw

says

in th

wea

pos

plays a part, these brands are

celebrating diff erent parts of the

body that previously no one would

have wanted in their silhouette.”

Those parts of your body , such as

hips and bottoms that accentuate

that hourglass aesthetic, couldn’t

be more welcome now.

The American singer Lizzo’s

new shapewear line, Yitty , which

launched on 12 April, goes even

further in celebrating a full fi gure

and is designed to be worn as (very

tight) clothes in their own right.

Vests, cycling shorts and bodysuits

in bold colours can be worn “as an

under layer or shown off ”, says the

website. Modelling some of the

range herself, Lizzo is very much

doing the latter.

The American plus-size

infl uencer Katie Sturino welcome s

the new shapewear. “I love the fact

that someone with my size can

actually wear something that 20

years ago you’d only see on a Calvin

Klein mode l,” she says.

‘Shameful’ levels of untreated

sewage put swimmers at risk

▲ American

singer Lizzo,

third from

right, designed

her shapewear

line, Yitty, in

bold colours

and prints that

can be worn as

fi gure-hugg ing

clothes in their

own right

PHOTOGRAPH: YITTY

‘Fashion is fi nally

catching up with

Kim Kardashian’

Harriet Worsley

Fashion lecturer

▼ Lycra and

clever tailoring

have taken

Lululemon’s

Defi ne jacket,

dubbed the

Brazilian Butt

Lift top, to

almost cult

status among

young women

showing it off

on TikTok

aff airs spokesperson, said: “Chil-

dren should be free to enjoy Britain’s

great coastlines and lakes, yet Con-

servative ministers are letting water

companies get away with shameful

sewage dumps. This is an environ-

mental scandal.”

The data was released as many

parts of the UK prepare to go to the

polls on Thursday to vote in local

elections. The Liberal Democrats

have called for a tax on water com-

panies’ profi ts to be used to clean up

coastlines, rivers and lakes.

Environment Agency data shows

that in 2021 water companies released

raw sewage into wider coastal waters

and rivers in England for more than

2.7m hours.

217,

Time (in hours) during which

sewage was released into English

and Welsh bathing waters in 2021